He was astounded by the new environment. The crowds and multi-storey buildings caught his attention, too. He thought he had arrived at his final destination - South Africa. Little did he know that he was still in Malawi, in the Chigumula area of the commercial city of Blantyre. He had been fooled big time!

This was the predicament of 23-year-old Yamikani Nyasulu from Rumphi District in the north of Malawi. His story left people in awe a few months ago.

Nyasulu found himself stranded in Blantyre, where the truck driver he believed would ferry him to South Africa abandoned him in Chigumula. This is despite the fact that Nyasulu paid the driver K300,000 (about US166), money he generated after selling his grandmother’s only cow. The ever-loving grandmother sacrificed the cow, her only possession of value, in the hope that the grandson would pay something back later, either in cash or support in kind.

It was not to be, as Nyasulu found himself in Chigumula. He describes it as:

... the hefty price I have to pay for failing to read and write. It still hurts me when I think about what happened to me. It hurts even more when I realise that I could not read or write. No wonder, the truck driver took advantage of me, hoodwinking me into believing that he would take me to Cape Town, South Africa, only to drop me at a place that was not in my plans.

He is quick to say that he did not alight from the vehicle of his own volition.

The truck driver convinced me that I had reached my destination, Cape Town in South Africa, further advising me to get in touch with my relatives 'back in Malawi'. All those things he said were lies! I realised that he had lied to me because I heard almost everyone speaking in the vernacular language of Chichewa.

Not wanting to believe what he was hearing, Nyasulu asked a passer-by where he was and his fears came true. He was in Chigumula, right here in Malawi. When Nyasulu’s story went viral on social media, some well-wishers contributed funds that enabled him to travel back to Rumphi.

Another victim, Hawa Matola from Mangochi District in the Southern Region, resists the temptation of shedding a tear as she narrates what happened to her. In her case, she was supposed to travel to one corner of Malawi but ended up at an unintended destination

I was supposed to be taken to Mzuzu City in the Northern Region, where I had secured a job as [a] maid. However, the minibus driver pocketed money from me … promised to take me to Mzuzu [but] dropped me in Lilongwe, claiming that I had reached my final destination of Mzuzu. I lingered in [the] Lilongwe bus depot, thinking that I had reached Mzuzu. At midnight, I got a phone call from my would-be boss, who wanted to know where I was and why I was taking time to reach Mzuzu. That is when I asked one of the people in the bus depot, who informed me that I was in Lilongwe. I was shocked and felt betrayed. I thank the good Samaritan who assisted me with a bus fare to connect to Mzuzu, adding 378 kilometres more [to my journey]. I was made to believe that [the] Lilongwe bus depot was in Mzuzu.

Matola and Nyasulu are among the five million people who are illiterate out of Malawi’s projected population of 20 million people. In other words, 25 out of every 100 people cannot read or write, according to Ministry of Education and Malawi National Commission for UNESCO statistics. On the other hand, the National Statistical Office (NSO) indicates that the adult literacy rate in Malawi is 68.6%. This means that almost 31 out of 100 adult men and women cannot read and write. This represents an increase in literacy levels. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics reported that the adult literacy rate was 64% in 2005 and 65% in 2016.

However, the increase is at a snail’s pace. The illiteracy rate is higher among females than males. The NSO (2018) report shows that 34.1% of females are illiterate compared to 28.4% of males. Matola, who is among the 34.1% of illiterate females in the country, dropped out of standard three in Mangochi. She claims that she dropped out due to poverty. She says that if a chance for her to learn presents itself, she would opt for Adult Learning and Education (ALE).

Apart from learning how to read and write, those who have embraced ALE can acquire skills such as tailoring and carpentry, putting them in a position to generate much needed income for their households. To help the cause of Matola and Nyasulu, and many others who are in a similar or worse situation, the Government of Malawi has committed to ease the challenge posed by illiteracy. The Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare spokesperson, Pauline Kaude, says strategies have been put in place to reduce the illiteracy rate in Malawi.

Kaude states that the Ministry is promoting strategies such as functional literacy, learning in the mother tongue, integrated adult education, as well as the establishment of community learning centres and community-based skills development centres.

These strategies are designed to increase the relevance of the adult learning.

She observed that there is increased demand for adult classes in areas where the strategies are being implemented, a development that is said to have contributed to a reduction in the number of illiterate people in rural areas. 158,048 learners were enrolled in 2023, up from 144,495 in the 2022 learning cycle. She further indicated that, currently, illiteracy levels in Malawi are estimated at 24.5%, with the rate being 17% for men and 31.2% percent for women. She pointed out that the situation is worse for women in rural areas, where the rate is at 35.2%. For men in rural areas, the rate is 19.4%. However, according to Kaude, the situation is better in urban areas, where the illiteracy rate stands at 5.6% for men and 10.8% for women.

We are making good strides in efforts against illiteracy despite [having] limited resources. This is also supported by our partners, who have ensured that the creation of awareness messages pertaining to the availability and importance of the programmes has been highly pronounced through [the] multi-sectoral commemoration of International Literacy Day and multi-stakeholder planning and implementation of interventions. This has increased enrolment of adult learners. For instance, from 2022 to 2023, we had a 9% increase. Female learners’ … increased from 128,600 to 138,300 while … male learners increased from 15,895 to 19,748. We have also registered an increase in enrolment in tailoring courses in community skills development centres for adult literacy graduates from 80 learners in 2022 to 160 learners in 2023 in Dowa and Ntchisi district councils, where we have been supported by DVV International, our close partner in adult learning.

Currently, there are over 10,000 literacy classes across the country, serving over 150,000 learners. While adults in Malawi face obstacles to attain their literacy goals, the country is not short of stakeholders that want the situation to change. These include DVV International, which is helping the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare in ensuring that community members have access to life-saving skills, such as tailoring skills. Using a combination of functional literacy and vocational and business skills’ promotion, they are helping the country take assured steps towards the land of literacy.

Dyson Mthawanji, DVV International Communication Officer for Southern Africa, says, apart from reading and writing, ALE promotes entrepreneurship and self-employment by providing individuals with the skills and knowledge needed to start and run successful small-scale businesses. This, he indicated, helps stakeholders to drive personal and community economic growth.

Adult education programmes provide vocational training and skills development that help individuals and communities to become more self-sufficient and economically empowered. Plans are underway to offer tailoring skills to people in more districts. These skills are necessary as they are likely to improve the economic situation of the trained people.

Mthawanji added that ALE programmes encourage adults to think creatively and explore new ideas, thereby helping them to identify new business opportunities and develop innovative solutions to business challenges. There are many innovative approaches that adult education uses to address social problems in Malawian communities. For example, ALE provides community-based education through programmes designed to target specific communities that are most affected by social problems, notably poverty, unemployment and illiteracy.

ALE Expert from the Catholic University of Malawi, Merina Phiri, explained that ALE has a critical role to play in the development of society. She said it also contributes to poverty reduction efforts.

It can assist to foster active citizenship, strengthen personal growth and secure social inclusion, hence going beyond achieving skills for employability. It should be embraced as lifelong learning for adults to adapt to the ever-changing environment. It should, therefore, be highlighted that ALE includes a wide range of adult learning opportunities like non-formal skills training, business skills training and livelihood skills training.

Because of these benefits, Phiri stated that the Malawi Government, through the National Planning Commission, has singled out ALE as an enabler for Human Capital Development in the Malawi 2063 vision statement. This is also in line with Sustainable Development Goal 4, which promotes lifelong learning opportunities for all.

The commitment of the government was also seen when the National Adult Literacy and Education Policy of 2021 (and the accompanying Strategy in 2022) were enacted. However, she expressed concern that the sector continues to be underfunded despite having a target to reach more adults who do not have a chance to access formal education for various reasons. These are the same people who are expected to contribute to national development.

In 2003-2004, government allocation to adult literacy from the Ministry of Education was MK50,000,0000 (0.48%); K21,048,752 (0.16%) in 2004-2005; K28,472,000 (0.18%) in 2005-2006; K82,318,876 (0.15%) in 2006-2007, and K42,414,889 (0.15%) in 2007-2008. Between 2012 and 2016, government funding ranged from K120 million (2012-2013) to K80 million in the 2016-2017 financial year. In the past five years, funding has declined from K309 million in 2017-2018 to around K104 million in 2020-2021, averaging just 0.16% of the education sector budget. The government is expected to commit to increasing funding and the allocation of human capital, as prescribed in the Malawi 2063 agenda.

However, there are other challenges too. For example, the narrow understanding many people have of ALE (i.e. as just literacy, as opposed to all of its other vocational and income-generating elements). Therefore, there is also a need to enlighten people that ALE consists of a broad range of skills, of which literacy classes are just a stepping stone that enable people to learn other things. People also need to understand that ALE targets youths, adults and the elderly.

To tackle the many challenges facing the sector, the National Adult Literacy Strategic Plan (2022-2027) maps the way forward for the country. Launched by the Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare in November 2023, it is a stepping stone out of poverty and an important contribution to the country’s development.

This article was first published by The Daily Times newspaper in Malawi.